Milan (Bovisa) (John Foot)

This research project has used a variety of means to analyse the links between memory and place in an ex-industrial area.

Milan’s industrial neighbourhoods grew rapidly in the 1890s, played a part in the economic miracle of the 1960s and went through rapid deindustrialisation in the 1980s and 1990s. Immigrants were attracted to these zones first from the outlying countryside, then from the South of Italy and finally from outside Europe. Bovisa was one such zone, the symbol of Italy's industrial revolution. Within Bovisa, this part of the Memory and Place project took on a micro-focus, looking at the history of one working-class apartment block - a casa di ringhiera - through 100 years of history. The main sources for the research have involved oral history and micro-history as well as the collection of photographs, maps and super8 film footage.

The project's main outputs have been a 53 minute film. Story of a House. Piazzale Lugano, 22 (2004) (Ringhiera: storia di una casa (2004) and an extensive written piece of work. For more details on the film go here. (Versione italiana informazioni film.)

This work has been shown in various forums and presented in various academic environments. For dissemination, go here. For a draft version of the research paper, go here.